An Appeal for the Union by a Philadelphia Whig

2ln appeal far % Kmart.

• BY

A. PHILADELPHIA WHIG.

PREFACE.

The following tract-, composed of a scries, of articles, communicated
to, and originally published in, the Philadelphia Evening Journal,
needs no commendation for such readers as think cdliily and soberly,
and desire, in the present crisis- yf national politics, to do what is
right. It in a temperate appeal to reason and patriotic intelligence.
Whoever reads one page will be tempted' onward by the best sort
of persuasion. — that which appeals to no prejudice or passion and does
not contradict by words of udkindness any strong preconceived
opinion. It is hot the ifaH of a technical politician, but of a citizen
of Philadelphia, mature in years and eouservative in principle )
who, when ho has devoted himself to the public service, has done
so most unselfishly. Ho feels all he writes to bo true, The author of
this pamphlet is by education and early association a member of the
Society of Friends, and has no sentiment in common vyittl propa-
gandists of slavery or the fierce fanaticism of technical Abolition.
He stands, and has always stood, on the good old Pennsylvanian plat-
form, and looking thence on the contests of the day, sees no escape
from civil diaooxd aud agitation but in blio election tu the Presidency
of a Pennsylvania statesman whorints proclaimed that 'the great aim
of his administration will he to pnt an end to slavery agitation. Let
every lover of peace road and meditate on what is thus written.

THE UNION.

NO. I.

There is a crisis in our public affairs that irresistibly exacts the
anxious attention of the reflective citizen. The people are called upon
to make choice of a President ; and on that choice may depend the
peace of the country — the safety of the Union. Many candidates
arc presented for the- high office, and one for every party .except for
those who have retained the name of Whigs, and who have heretofore
looked up to such leaders as Clay, Webster, Sergeant, and Everett to
guide and direct the councils of the Republic. What nefw are those
Whigs to do who have attached themselves to no other party ? What
are the principles that should guide them, and what the measures they
should pursue, they can have ho difficulty in deciding; but who among
the candidates is most likely to adopt and sustain those principles and
measures, is now the question; not, it may be, in statesmanship so
exalted as that which has bo long commanded our admiring gaze, and
reflected glory npon the national character, but who will most safely
administer the national government and most surely sustain the Union.

Let ns first consider the requisites that, the high office in the emer-
gency demands, and then select him who will most nearly fulfil the
required conditions.

The purpose paramount to all others to be. held in view is, to sustain
in good faith the Constitution of the United States. In the spirit of
forbearance, and the desire for the general good that formed it, can it
alone be preserved and perpetuated. We cannot doubt the wisdom
and safe guidance of the patriotic statesmen who framed it : men
tried and purified in the ordeal of, the Revolution, and instructed in
its necessity by the trials and perils of that, but for Providential aid,
unequal contest. - .

In executing the great task of forming the Constitution, the same
element of discord that now unhappily distracts our country, arose in
the Convention ; but it was then met, and, for the thou existing States,

a

finally settled ; and it is now onr transmitted obligation to abide by
it, and in all things concede equal rights to all the States, having
regard to their local institutions. Without such a concession, the
Union could not have been formed, nor can it now be preserved ; and
the alternative was then and is now disunion, insecurity, border-wars,
weakness, exposure to foreign aggression, and the extinction of repub-
lican freedom. It is only by a conservative feeling in the people, and
a wise and masterly statesmanship in their public servants, that the
Union can be maintained, and that the peace, prosperity, nud strength
it gives, can sustain the example of free institutions and man’s power
of self-government for the imitation of the w.orld.

It was well for Washington and his compatriots, after the achieve
ment of Onr national independence, to form a more perfect government,
in the spirit of compromise and conciliation ; it is-, equally our duty to
cultivate the sainc spirit, to preserve the Constitution that cements
our Union, preserves the domestic peace, afid extends free State gov-
ernments over this, broad continent, while it exhibits our whole people
in the attitude of a-.united strength against whatever combination may
be formed against us by the despotic powers of Europe.

Those nominations of candidates, therefore, which partake of a
sectional character — that array, one portion of the people against
another — that would form an administration of th&Genoral Govern-
ment to favor the viowB of one portion of the country, at the sacrifice
of the security of the local lawi and institutions of another — cannot
hut tehd to dissever the Union, endanger the peace of the country, and
bring into, peril the Federal Government. It is no sufficient answer
for one section to say that the other was the aggressor, and that wrong
and usurpation must be met hy resistance. Crimination and recrimi-
nation, action and reaction, have- been so often repeated, and each
wrong provoked to a greater, until a conflict of arms ha* ensaed, and
the process that leads to suoh a result cannot but be pronounced evil,
and each reaction a wrong, exoopt os it consists in fair argument and
persuasion, and the fair and peaceful determination of the ballot-box.
The temporary wrong that proceeds from a peaceful waiting for the
correction of an ever-recurring sound public opinion, is an infinitely
mote 'safe tun! stnrij reliance for redress than a resort to violence. Let
nS not, then, elect an executive that shall aggravate existing evils.j
let us not establish a- government representing the feelings of a part
of the Country, to carry out the iuflammatory views of a seotion; but
an executive of tried experience and national views, who,; governed
by the Constitution, shall know Ho preference for any section in the
administration of national affaire— a government representing and
holding an equal balance over the whole country, and nothing less
than the whole country- A Whig.,

4

THE UNION.

NO. II.

• i

With a large majority of tbe : States who formed the Constitution in
1 787 holding slavey it was an inevitable feature in it that the right o»
the States to continue to hold and reclaim their slaves should be re-
cognised in that inetruineiit. It was a Dandition absolutely essential
to its adoption, and without which no national government couid have
been established, and it is equally a condition to its preservation. It
was formed: not to. establish slavery, but of necessity to tolerate it in
the States where it existed, or where it might be authorized, leaving
its existence or extinction to depend upon 'the public opinion of the
people of the respective States. Where our forefathers left it there
. American statesmen must leave it os long as the Constitution is to bo
upheld, leaving the press and public opinion free to combat with it, to
check and extinguish if thoy can, but nothing short of a revolution to
change or impair one guaranty of the Constitution. All moderate and
sound thinking men concede this; and it is only an extreme party
that dares to' make an assault upon the Constitution itself that will
deny the soundness of the position.

But many well-disposed citizens make the admission with the limi-
tation that slavery shall bo restricted* to the States where it existed
when. the Constitution was adopted, or. where since established; and
that it shall not be extended over new territory. Were the writer a
settlor in a new territory he, too, would resist its introduction .to the
Inst extremity, and failing in the effort, remove from its presence as
among the greatest of evils, greater even to the white than the black
raeei But what are the righto of the.' people of all the 8tates in the
unsettled territories thereof ? They are equal ; and when they shall
have settled' any new territory in numbers sufficient! lo form a State,
and shall have framed a Constitution, it is their right, if the right of
emigrants from the several States be equal, to adopt or reject the insti-
tution of slavery. Tho event most depend upon the character and
sentiments of the settlers. The strife, if peaceful; is a fair and- just
one, and we of the North ever breathe ouraepi rations of hope for the
success of the freeman ; and preferring the white race, and the spirit
of freedom that burns m the bosom of the freeman, play that the
virgin soil of our western domain may be inhabited only by freemen.
But we can never forget the faith plighted for us by our patriot
ancestors; we can never forget the united achievement of our inde-
pendence, nor the glories of a yet brief 'history, which neves could
have been ours had we not been a united people It is worse than

s

profitless to boast what our section did, and another did not, towards
the common success, since if we had not been united, and inspired by
the same love of freedom, our forefathers never could have achieved
independence, and we should not now be numbered among the great
nations of the earth, and with the certain destiny of becoming the
greatest, if we can but preserve our glorious Union.

That the settlers in a new territory shall enjoy rights perfectly
equal, the General Government should be absolutely neutral, taking
care to secure to all equal protection, and a free choice in the character
of their institutions, without sectional favor, and without external
interference. If the General Government failB in this, it fails- in its
duty, and becomes a partisan, and must lose the respect'and confidence
of all those who are wronged by its partial administration ; it ceases
to he a just and national government; it betrays the trust reposed by
the Constitution. That the national government has the power to
give law to and govern the territories until erected into States, it' must
be a matter of astonishment to every constitutional lawyer to -find
questioned so frequently of recent times, and it shall be one of my
purposes -to refute the error. It is necessary that this should be
understood, that the people adventuring into new territories may
know their claims upon • the government, and not be. left a prey to
intestine fends, more than to the tender mercies of neighboring
savages; and that those entrusted with the powers of government
may be held to their proper responsibility. It is right that the
enterprising settlers shall, in due time, mould their own laws and
institutions, but they must be secured in eqnal rights daring the
process; and when in sufficient numbers, offering a constitution;
republican in form, and adapted in nil respects to fulfil her obligations
of a State to the Constitution of the United States and her sister States,
it is much a matter of coarse that anew State will he admitted into
the Union. But that the institution of slavery is incorporated into
the new constitution is not a disqualifying feature to her admission ;
otherwise, the settlers in the territories from the different States would
not have eqnal rights in the territories of the Union'; otherwise, the
people there would not have the rights of freemen to the same extent
they have in all the' other- States; otherwise, the new State would not
be sovereign and independent, as all other States, and the people
thereof, sovereign and independent, saving only the concessions made
by them in the Constitution of the United States.

This view is, of course, irrespective of territory ceiled to the United
States or a State under special stipulations, Which, as they involve the
obligation of a contract under the Constitution of the United States,
no State can impair the force thereof. Green vs. Biddle, 8 Whea. 1.
•This is a different case from the erection of a State upon territor

6

untrammelled, by compact, and the attempt in suoh case by Congress
to impose terms against the will of the people in the act of forming a
State government, beyond tho requirements of the Constitution of the
United States. A W aid.

THE UNION.
no. in.

I have said that Congress can give the law to the Territories of
the United States, and is, consequently, responsible for the preserva-
tion of the peace and the protection and security of the inhabitants
therein. It is among the express powers granted by the States and
the people thereof when they formed the Constitution. Every com-
munity must have a government, aud if the government of a Territory
is not in the United States, or those to whom Congress have delegated
power therein, it is nowhere. The Supreme Court of the United
States decided, in an opinion delivered by Chief Justice Marshall,
that : “ Till Florida become a State, * * * Florida continues to be
a Territory of tho United States, governed by virtue of that clause
in the Constitution which empowers Congress ‘ to make all needful
rules and regulations respecting the territory and other property be-
longing to the United States.’" f Peter’s It. 542. “No one has
ever doubted tbe authority of Congress to erect territorial governments
within the territory of tha United States under the general language
of. the clause," says Story, 2 Constitutional Law, § 1325.

If it were not an express grant it would seem to be necessarily
implied from other expressly granted powers. There has been ex-
pressly granted to tho Federal Government- the power to declare war
and the power to make treaties ; consequently, the power to make
conquests of territory, to make peace and acquire territory, of course
to acquiro for the nation and not fox 1 any one or more States less than
the whole, consequently, territory to come under the laws of no one
of the States, but under such as the government to which it was
ceded should impose. The moment the General Government was
formed for.national purposes these inseparable rights and incidents of
national sovereignty ensued under the law of nations. Justice
Johnson, another Judge of the Supreme Court of the Union, from
South Carolina, and always strict in his adherence to State rights, had
held that “ the right of acquiring territory is altogether incidental to
the treaty-making power, and perhaps to the power of admitting new
States into the Union ; and the.government of such acquisitions is, of
course, left to the legislative power of the Union, as far as that power
is uncontrolled by treaty." “ In case of such acquisitions, I see
nothing in whioh the power acquired over the ceded territories can

7

vary from the power acquired under the law of nations by any other
government over acquired or ceded territory. The laws, rights, and
institutions of the territory so acquired remain in full force, until
rightfully altered by the new government;” 1 Peters' R., 617 — that
is, the Government of the United States newly acquiring such terri-
tory. “ They do not participate in political power, nor can they share
in the powers of the General Government until they become a State
and are admitted into the Union as such.” 2 Story’s C. L., § 1324.
Their condition is dependent and colonial ; they are not States, but
the elements from whioh States are to be formed : not stars, but
nebula that may cohere and become stars of the Union.

The practice of our government has, from the beginning, conformed
to these views sanctioned by the highest judicial authority. Every
territorial government has been established b^ a law of Congress,
with certain delegated legislative, as well as executive, powers ; but it
cannot be doubted that Congress might have exercised all legislative
powers over a Territory. This delegation was a matter of expediency
and discretion, not of necessity or right. If Congress can delegate
the authority to an appointed territorial council or legislature, popu-
larly elected, to admit or exclude slavery into a Territory, it follows
that Congress might havo directly done the same thing; and yet it
would be very inexpedient for Congress to do so. Congress was
bound by the terms of Virginia’s cession to exclude slavery from the
Northwestern territory, .and by the terms of North Carolina’s cession,
to permit slavery south of the Ohio so far as such cession extended:
1 Story’s Laws, 94, 79. Louisiana was acquired as territory where
slaveiy had existed by law, and would have continued to exist except
that it was excluded from a portion thereof by the Missouri Compro-
mise Act. Texas, which had been exempt from slavery as Mexican
territory, as an independent State adopted Blavery, and was admitted
into the Union with a stipulation that slavery should be permitted
south, and excluded north, of the Missouri Compromise lino of 86 deg.
80 miu. 5 Laws U. S. 3088.

In 1850, the territorial governments of New Mexico and Utah were
organized, with the liberty of beiug admitted as States with or without
slavery, as their constitutions might prescribe.

The Missouri Compromise line was deemed an equitable division of
the territory of the Union between the two great divisions of the
country, conformable in latitude to natural laws that influenced slavery,
and to the actual existence or the absence of it, and had the advan-
tage of apprizing settlers of a future oertainty that /slaves would or
would not he admitted. It. was a constitutional exercise of power,
was acquiesced in as a peaceable settlement of a disturbing question
that had intensely agitated the Union, and should not havo been

8

repealed. Its abolition in 1854 was a direct violation of the faith of
the Compromise, and also of a resolution erf the Baltimore Democratic
Platform of 1852, declaring « that the Democratic party will resist
all attempts at renewing in Congress, or ont of it, the agitation of the
slavery question, under whatever shape or color the attempt may bb
made.” The Democratic party has temperately rebuked those who
disobeyed its mandate — has disappointed their ambitious expectations,
and at Cincinnati has reiterated the Baltimore -resolutions, thereby
again deprecating agitation, and presented to the oountry a nominee
for the Presidency of safe and conservative oharuoter, who had been
willing to abide by the Missouri Compromise, took no part in its
repeal, and who deplores an agitation and excitomont that, without
any results but evil, discredits the country abroad and impairs the
strength of the Unidh. But the acts of 1854 were not a repeal, as
alleged by a distinguished citizen, of the ordinance of 1787, since the
Northwestern territory, to whioh only it applied, did not extend west-
ward of the Mississippi, a country then belonging to Spain, and by
us acquired as part of Louisiana in 1808, while the constitutions vol-
untarily formed by the people of all the States lying between the
Ohio and. Mississippi exclude slavery in conformity with the ordinance
of 1787, which yet remains in force over all the territory that it was
ever operative -upon. * A Whig-.

THE UNION.

NO, IV.

But the Missouri Compromise has been repealed, and it could only
be restored by a repetition of the evils of prolonged agitation upon
the slavery question, and thereby farther alienate the affections, and
more widely separate the people of the North and of the South. The
substituted rule of leaving to the people of the territories the right to
decide for themselves before, tbey become States, but anticipates by a
Very brief period a right that then becomes absolutely theirs beyond
any control of Congress, in the absence of treaty or contract obliga-
tion. Any State, the moment it is admitted to membership in the
Union, if unbound by oontraot, has the absolute right to adopt or
reject slavery within its own limits, for no power is delegated to Con-
gress to control a Stato in this regard. Congress cannot re-establish
slavery in Pennsylvania, nor prohibit it in Virginia.} and what Con-
gress cannot do in either of these States eannot be done by Congress
in any other State, without destroying their equality of rights. With
the formation of States over the western territories, therefore, the
Missouri Compromise would have been forever obliterated. This
must be so ; for if Congress could impose a porpotual condition against

9

the introduction of slavery into any State, Congress would have equal
authority to impose a condition to make slavery perpetual in any
State: a conclusion equally revolting to the friends of States’ rights,
both of the South and of the North.

If the Missouri line could be re-established and made perpetual, it
would not bo desirable to those who desire to see the area of free
labor extended, as we, the people qf Pennsylvania, do. It would not
only be to encounter the evils and risks of a ‘renewed agitation, which
the Pennsylvania candidate desires to allay, but it would be to fix an
immovable barrier to the progress of free labor, for which the field is
now fully oponed to competition, and which only demand justioe and
fair play; and that it is entitled to by every sentiment of right and
overy obligation of principle and honor, moral or legal, human and
divine. Slavery will be excluded from a wider area south than it will
be extended even north of the old Compromise line.

By our refuging to extend the Missouri Compromise line to the
Pacific, Southern California has been gained to free labor, and nearly
all of New Mexico, large enough for several States, may be secured
against the introduction of slavery. It is not, therefore, the principle
established by tho legislation of Oongross ho much as the abhorrent
practices that have taken place by the invaders of Kansas, in violation
of the law. That the North has the capacity, with an open and fair
field for action, to win territory to free labor, is apparent to every one
who has observed the progress of Western settlements to the North
and to the South. To the North there is unparalleled thrift, enter-
prise, success, and prosperity, which have never been rivalled at the
South. For the period of the lost census, the increase of the white
population of the United States was 37 ,7394 per cent. ; [Be Bow, 49
white the increase of the whole colored population was but 26.6219
per oent.; [De Bow, 87 ;] and the increase of the white population of
the non-slaveholding States was 39.42 per cent., while the inorease of
tho white population of the slaveholding States was but 34.26 per
cent., [De Bow, 46,] Thus the laws of Providence aro rapidly and
unceasingly operative to gain upon and hem in slavery on its North,
and now on its West, border ; and if it should find a door for expan-
sion yet further to the South, it will only the sooner surrender the
Northern Slave States io the renovating liftnd of the industry and
enterprise of freemen.

The resolutions, therefore, of the Cincinnati Convention touching
the subject here discussed, cannot be regarded as hostile to free labor.
Here is the extent to which they go upon this subject :

« Sesolved, That we recognise the right of the people of the Terri-
tories, including Kansas aftd Nebraska, acting through th e fairly
expressed will of the majority of actual residimti; and, whenever

10

the number of their inhabitants justifies it, to form a constitution,
with or without domestic slavery, and be admitted into the 'Union
upon terms of perfect equality with the other States.”

They repudiated all sectioual platforms aud parties concerning do-
mestic slavery as liable to embroil the States and produce resistance
to the law — and justly ; aud accord to all actual settlers, acting through
the fairly expressed will of the majority, the right to adopt or reject
slavery — a right that every other State has exercised or may exercise ;
and if the settlers shall not hereafter enjoy a fair opportunity to de-
oide the question', it will he the fault of the two branches of Congress,
one having a Democratic majority, and the other a majority of oppo-
nents to the Democracy. Let each, then; be held to its proper respon-
sibility, and we shall see who will be responsible for what may follow.

That the future Executive will not be responsible for the continu-
ance of trouble and bloodshed in Kansas if the Pennsylvania candidate
be elected, is very clear from the 'following impressive language uttered
by him when accepting the nomination : — “ Most happy would it be
for the country if the long agitation wore at an end. During its
whole progress it has produced no practical good to any human being,
whilst it has been the source of great and dangerous evils. It has
alienated and estranged one portion of the Union from the other, and
has even seriously threatened its very existence. To my own personal
knowledge, it has produced the impression among foreign nations that
our great aud glorious confederacy is 14 constant danger of dissolution.
This does us serious injury, because acknowledged power and stability
always command respect among nations, and are among the best
securities against unjust aggression and in favor of the maintenance
of honorable peace.” If these troubles be contiuucd, it will be the
fault of one or other branch of Congress, since it is plain that with
adoquate legislative provision, or if unrestrained by injudicious
legislation, the expected Executive would execute the laws of the
United States over the Territory of Kansas, preserve tho peace, aud
secure to all actual settlers the free, equal, and just exercise of all
their rights and political franchises. A Whig.

THE UNION.

NO. V. *

To the devoted friends of the Union, it is an alarming symptom
of the times that men of respectability, intelligence and influence
have permitted themselves to admit a contingency on which they
would consent to its dissolution — to let it tUde — as the phrase isj as if
it could quietly pass away, and the peace and prosperity of the country

n

remain. It makes the heart sad to reflect that it is possible that any
real or imagined grievance could beget in such minds buoIi a conclusion.
Can it be that patriotism, the iove of conn try, and our'couutry’s glory,
are separable from the Union ? Can men be men of honor, integrity
and patriotism, and riot cling to the last to the integrity and honor of
the Union; and though they should be compelled to right to the death
to repress grievances and combat wrongs that individuals or partymay
inflict, can any one with an American heart and one patriotic feeling
ever prove derelict in bis fidelity to the Union ? It is hard, indeed, to
believe it, and yet it is apparent that many respeotable and intelligent
citizens have suffered themselves to put a value upon the Union — a
cheap value upon it — and under the aggravations of excitements
produced by temporary causes, Lave used expressions showing a prep-
aration for the event, and adopted measures and selected candidates,
whose success would inevitably dissever these States. ■ It sickens the
heart of patriotism to contemplate a condition of things heretofore
thought an impossibility by the American people — that this govern-
ment could be dissolved — that the fair fabric of constitutional liberty,
the protection of our people, and the example and hope of maukind,
oould be dissolved and become as a vision of the past, to be spoken of
in future history as a lesson to teach the impracticability of republican
freedom, as an illusion of impracticable enthusiasts that for a brief
period made a successful experiment , that lasted while their country
was young, her people pure, simple aud patriotic, brit could not endure
a more advanced period of society, when men’s ■ passions, selfishness
and ambition obtained the mastery, and the broken fragments of the
Union, after disastrous conflicts and struggles, sought tranquility and
peace under military despotism.

Thoughts are now boldly spoken that at any former period would
have shocked us as treasonable. The minds of youth, taught during
the period of confiding trust to believe the Union imperishable, and
the lqve of country an incentive .to glorious death, and Washington’s a
name and object of veneration only less than divine, and his words of
admonition to love and cherish the Union as sacred injunctions, are
now permitted daily to hear and read expressions from men in power
aud place, abhorrent to patriotism, and blighting as the poison of the
upas to their love of country, and shocking as sacrilege itself in their
disparagement of the venerated names and history of our beloved
country — a history, though brief, more impressive and glorious than
any that has illumined the pages of all past time.

When men of education and influence suffer themselves to lose their
respect for and disparage the Constitution, and to. regard the disso-
lution of the Union without aversion and horror ; when Legislatures
adopt resolutions and political parries platforms, in conflict with the

h

*

provisions of that .Constitution, without which it never could have
been forra6(f and obtained an existence ; and those of fanatic zeal
habitually denounce with derision, as "Union savers/' patriotic
citizens and statesmen who hate resolved to stand by it to the death,
and sa/'" Let the Union slide,” we may weft fear that a moral 1 treason
has sank deeply into the minds of certain classes of citizens, that, if
not promptly checked by the body of the people in their power and
majesty, may, and will, bring the government to the crisis which
these false leaders have brought their minds to contemplate as a
desirable event — the catastrophe of dissolution, and of the extinction
of republican freedom.

Yet, disregarding aft discouragements and reproaohes, it becomes
the duty of all patriotic citizens devoted to the Constitution of their
country by the countless blessings it confers, and the numberless evils
and calamities it averts, patiently to endure disenssions, even though
they irreverently question the wisdom of that instrument that binds
the States in Union, and enabled them to achieve an unexampled
prosperity, and a power and position that command the respect of the
world, because that instrument, itself guarantiee to those who asperse
it " the freedom of spofech and of the press,” and leaves their errors
and their heresies to he dealt with by truth, puhlic opinion and the
ballot box. It behooves, therefore, every one who loves his country
and his country’s prosperity and honor to do such share of duty as
may be within the scope of his influence and power to preserve a
sound and conservative puhlic opinion, and keep alive the spirit of
patriotism and the love of country, of the Constitution and the Union,
and to promote the elevation to power of those who win preserve
them inviolate, and extend to the whole country ah equal, just and
benign protection. A Whig.

THE UNION.

NO. VI.

It is in the spirit of peace and humanity that this appeal is made
to the people of Pennsylvania; for it is by upholding the Constitution
and the Union alone, that the peace and tranquillity of the country
can he maintained. That sacred rule that we preach to slave-owners,
to observe to their unfortunate slaves, we are bound to practice
towards those owners, our follow-citizens : "AH things whatsoever
ye would that men should do to you, do yC even so to them.” In the
common government they must equally participate-; in the common
rights they must equally share ; and we should dwell with them in
fraternal kindness and amity. In the spirit in which 'our forefathers

18

framed the great bond of our Union — of those who bad emancipated
the alamos of Pennsylvania — of Franklin, Bush, Bryan, lined, Morris*
Peters and other# — of Franklin and Bush, signers of the Declaration
of Independence) of- Franklin,- a signer of the Constitution of the
United States, yet both Presidents- of the Pennsylvania Society for
promoting the Abolition of Slavery ; of Franklin who, in the conven-
tion to form that Constitution, when divisions arose therein upon this
subject, fchatnow-so much disturbs and alienates the people, moved
that that uugfist body should invoke by prayer the influence of the
Almighty to -compose (heir differences, snd they were composed.

When the great work was accomplished, and it was siloed by-
“ George Washington,- President, by unanimous order of the conven-
tion/' it wds accompanied by * letter, in which it was declared— « In
all our deliberations upon this subject, we kept steadily in view that
Wkiok appears tons the greatest interest of every ; true American — the
Consolidation of our Union — in which is involved Our prosperity,
felicity, safety, perhaps our national existence. This important
consideration seriously and deeply impressed our minds, led each
State in the Convention to be loss rigid on points of inferior mag-
nitude,' than might have been otherwise expected; and thus the
Constitution, which we now present, is the result of a spirit of amity,
and of that mutual deference and concession which the peculiarity of
our political situation rendered indispensable.” That work which our
patriot ancestors achieved with s6 much labor, forbearance and wisdom,
shall not we, after haying witnessed its magnificent results, in the
same fraternal; spirit maintain and perpetuate i Shall not we, too, d in
a spirit of amitjr/\ practice a like “ mutual deference and concession,”
to preserve a government immensely magnified in ita -soope and
importance lo'ourseLves, to out expanded country, and to the world ?

The purpose of that great instrument, as Itself deelares, was “to
establish justice, insure domestic tranquilfify, provide for the common
defence, promote the general . Welfare, and secure the blessings of
liberty." It was the work of men whoso names have become conse-
crated. in the affections of the people, .of names that' will ever live in
history, glorious to their country and to mankind. Whatever may
befall our- bountry, the history that records their doings will forever
be read and- excite the glow Of liberty and admiration in the human
heart, in all countries and in all ages. What, then, must be the
infamy and disgrace of thnso men, and of that', age of whom the
truthful pages of history shall hereafter record the betrayal of so
sacred a trust, of men wlw have dared to lay their unhallowed hands
upon the ark of our safety, of. men whose fratricidal- arias have shed
the blood of brothers, and destroyed the Constitution aud liberties of
their couitry i ;.j U . n m,' ■ *

14

When this Union shall be broken into fragments, they will not,
cannot separate m peace and amity. The war now raging in Kansas
will be lighted along the line between slavery and freedom for more
than a thousand miles. The pursuit of slavesffleeing for liberty across
that border, no longer into sister States and under a paramount law,
hot into unfriendly, if not hostile, tnrritory, will inevitably lead to
conflicts and war. A line of fortifications and custom-houses stretch-
ing thousands of miles from East to West, will interrupt all trade and
travel, and excite to hostility and* conflict. War will become inevi-
table, and the burden of a standing army and navy a necessity, and
military men become leaders, if not masters. With war will come
blookaded cities, commerce be destroyed, plantations wasted, habita-
tions smouldering ruins. Then, with wasted strength and exhausted
resources, will foreign alliance W courted at the cost of liberty, or the
weak fall the easy prey of foreign conquest. To the evils of civil
would be added the horrors of servile war, until the intensity of its
horrors should, reawaken in the white Tace a fraternal sympathy, a
Sympathy of blood and kindred, that .would unite all in a war of exter-
mination of tboso who now excite our commiseration, aud hurry us
into extremes fraught with these direful consequences. A W nio.

THE UNION.

WO. VII.

To a Pennsylvania statesman have the Democratic party conceded
the honor of being their candidate for Presidentof the United States. —
an honor never before conceded to a State withont whose electoral
vote no President has ever been elected. At a time of great excite-
ment between the North and the South, when men of Massachusetts
and men of South Carolina have met in conflict in Kansas, that party
has passed by her men of extreme Opinions, and made its selection of
a cautious and conversadve statesman, from the steady, peace-and-
Uhion-loving State of Pennsylvania 5 a State that in the gratitude of
her own deliverance from political thraldom, while yet amid the perils
of the Revolution, abolished slavery within her' borders. Is not this
an earnest of moderate, temperate and safe councils? They well knew
that while Pennsylvania has ever and will ever prove true to the
Union, that while the rights of all the States might safely be com-
mitted to the hands of one of her moet tried and experienced public
servants, there is not a man in the State who would give his voice.for
the repeal of her gloriouB statue of 1780, that forever abolished slavery
therein, in language that will forever appeal to the. heart of humanity,
and expressive of the gratitude of men that through all their live*

15

faithfully sustained the Union. They in a “grateful sense' of— the
manifold blessings which they had undeservedly received from the
hand of that Being from whom every good and perfect gift eoincth,”
“ conceived it to he their duty,- and rejoiced that it was in their power,
to extend a portion of that freedom to others, which had been extended
to them, and to release from that state of thraldom to which they
themselves wore tyrannically doomed/’ the slaves that Great Britain
had forced upon them. Pennsylvania with pride, points to this bright
page on her statutes, and to the hardy, free and happy citizens that
cultivate her soil, and maintain hor manufacturing and mining in-
dustry and- wealth, and asks her sister States to follow her example
and realize the rich rewards ; but Pennsylvania leaves free all other
States and Territories to enact or repeal all laws upon all subjects that
she may enact or repeal ; and when her sons Shall he summoned into
the national councils or Executivo*chair, she expects them with a
religious fidelity to administer the natioual affairs for the equal benefit
of all, without favor or partiality, to one State of section over another.

As the question of slavery is now the great disturbing element and
chief issue in the election to take place in November, it must consti-
•tute the main subject of consideration in the discharge of the duty that
will then devolve upon every qualified freeman. Hence it has been
the subject of discussion in these numbers, and the views therein
expressed are given to show that the conclusion is arrived at after
proper care and scrutiny, and notwithstanding the writer cherishes
sentiments utterly repugnant to the extension of slavery. With him
the paramount question is that of the safe administration of the Gen-
eral Government and the perpetuation of the Union.

The choice to be made he regards as between two of the candidates,
one of them a ripe and experienced statesmen, who for forty years has
faithfully and prudently, with capacity and judgment, served his
country in both Houses of Congress, as Secretary of State, and as
Minister abroad on the most responsible missions, and in all positions
acquitted himself with ability. The other is of untried statesmanship,
have been in the Senate but a short period, and is unknown to the
nation except as an adventurous explorer of the Far West, for which
he is entitled to all credit for his bold adventurers. But to accept him
as the Chief Magistrate of this great Republic upon such a recom-
mendation, must be regarded by citizens who will seriously reflect
upon the high trust to be confided, and the vastly responsible duties
to be performed, as an extraordinary proceeding, and produce alarm
for the safety of our country. It certainly is calculated to impress all
who will calmly reflect upon the subject, with the idea that tie judg-
ment of multitudes of men is very easily carried away by an impulse ;
by a feeling that in the beginning proved the greatest obstacle to tho

16

formation of the Constitution, and ever since, and now is, that which
is fraught with the greatest danger to the Union. Will not citizens
pause and reflect, and behold where this impulse is driving the Country,
before it be too late ? Those who minister to that impulse aro not
likely to be restrained by the cheeks of the Constitution, or to be
governed by any carefully balanced consideration of the equal rights of
the States, of the South, as well as of the North, and any error in this
respect may impel to a resistance, or secession, as fatal to the integrity
of the Union, as proved the American Revolution to that, of the
British Empire. George the Third never intended to lose hie American
colonies; but his uuwise, short-sighted, and obstinate ministry drove
matters to an extremity beyond reconciliation, and lost to his erawu
his best dominions. But these men of impulse, and one ides, say
that the people of the South know too well in what their own safety
consists to separate. But that id language that Can never be safely
held to freemen ; for freemen can never be safely wronged or eudure
oppression; could they, it is infinitely unbecoming in us of the North
to.aet upon any such assumption, and confesses a purpose of wrong
utterly at. variance with the spirit that formed and must sustain the
Union. A Whjo.